The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Vehicle article carriers have been widely used on exterior surfaces of motor vehicles such as cars, trucks, SUVs, vans and minivans, to support articles above an outer body surface of the body while the vehicle is being operated. A vehicle article carrier typically includes a pair of support rails that are secured parallel to a longitudinal length of the vehicle, and typically on a roof or trunk lid portion of the vehicle. One or more cross bars are often secured to the support rails. The cross bars are typically used to support articles thereon above an outer body surface of the vehicle, typically using external nylon straps, bungee cords, etc.
At present there is a desire to make better use of various exterior surfaces of a motor vehicle to provide at least some additional degree of lighting for the vehicle. For example, there is increasing interest in providing a small amount of additional light from exterior areas or components of the vehicle that serve to provide increased visibility of the vehicle to drivers of other vehicles, when the vehicle is being operated. As another example, there is an increased interest in providing a significant degree of additional lighting for the vehicle from one or more exterior components of a vehicle, to enhance road visibility when the driver is travelling off road, such as on trails, fire roads, etc. For this purpose, typically separate off road lights have been required which are attached somewhere on the exterior of the vehicle. Such separate off-road lights have traditionally been attached below the front bumper of the vehicle, above the front bumper, on truck bed mounted accessory components (headache racks), and above the roof via door jam mounts, just to name a few typical mounting arrangements. In all of these applications, however, independent lighting components were provided which need to be independently attached to the vehicle. As will be appreciated, certain of these mounting approaches can significantly detract from the aesthetics and aerodynamic profile of a vehicle, and/or potentially interfere with other components of the vehicle (e.g., air flow through a vehicle radiator and/or transmission cooler). Certain of these mounting approaches can also result in additional wind noise when the vehicle is travelling at highway speeds. Moreover, certain of these mounting approaches (e.g., front bumper mounting) give rise to a high risk of damage to the off-road lights from rocks thrown from the tires of other vehicles, from stationary rocks, from water thrown up from puddles, and from low lying brush and like vegetation. Still further, certain traditional mounting locations, while forming convenient attachment points for the off-road lights, do not necessarily position the lights at a level above the ground surface that provides optimum illumination and an optimum coverage pattern relative to the driver's seat location.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide a vehicle article carrier that also includes integrated high power off-road lighting, as well as integrated accessory lighting. Such a vehicle article carrier with integrated lighting would not detract from the aesthetics and aerodynamic qualities of the vehicle, would not interfere with other important subsystems of the vehicle (i.e., airflow through a radiator), and would place the off-road lights well above the bumper of the vehicle, which would serve to help protect the off-road lights from damage from other objects.